We will study the glycosylation and processing of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) envelope glycoprotein using biochemical and radiochemical techniques. We will analyze the reactions and mechanisms involved in the transfer of glucosamine, galactose, sialic acid, and fucose to the newly synthesized VSV glycoprotein. VSV-infected cell in tissue culture will be used in the proposed research as a prototypic model system for examining the molecular and subcellular mechanisms of glycosylation and maturation of cellular and viral membrane glycoproteins. These studies will further our understanding of the role of the intracellular membrane matrix in the processing and assembly of the components of the viral envelope. We will also study the synthesis and structure of the oligosaccharide moieties of the VSV glycoprotein in a dog kidney epithelial cell line from which VSV matures at a specific domain of the plasma membrane.